Bill Ritter's Campaign Director Smears Opponents

Governor Bill Ritter's Campaign Director David Kenney today smeared participants of local tea parties as "rabidly anti-government." The statement was part of a fund-raising letter sent by e-mail.

Kenney's dishonest and vicious smear campaign, which likens practitioners of First Amendment rights to diseased dogs, ignores the obvious fact that the overwhelming majority of tea party participants advocate government that protects people's rights and is limited in scope by Constitutional law.

See, for example, my coverage of the April 15 Tea Party in Denver, the July 4 Tea Party in Arvada, and the August 7 health rally in Longmont.

If Kenney wishes to find real examples of people who flout the rules of just government, he need look no further than the former Democratic campaigner arrested for vandalizing Democratic headquarters. If Kenney wishes to condemn some as "anti-government," he should look to criminals and anarchists, not peaceful protesters who advocate just government.

Apparently Kenney chooses to lie about tea party participants because he does not wish to engage their arguments.

Kenney also wishes to suggest that the only possible alternative to Ritter's leftist tax-and-spend policies of economic controls and corporate welfare is to be "anti-government." In fact, the proper alternative is to advocate a government that protects individual rights, including rights to property and voluntary exchange.

Following is the letter I sent in reply:

Dear Mr. Kenney,

Today you smeared me, a participant in various tea parties, as "rabidly anti-government."

In fact, I advocate government that protects individual rights, and I do not appreciate the governor's campaign staff smearing me for practicing my First Amendment rights.

I request that you retract your vicious and libelous statement and apologize for it.

Sincerely,
Ari Armstrong

Forty-Nine Reasons to Vote Ritter Out

On May 30, 2008, my vehicle registration cost $37.17. On July 13, 2009, my vehicle registration cost $86.48.

That's about a $49 difference. For me, that's forty-nine reasons to vote Bill Ritter out of office. State politicians are doing everything they can to squeeze residents at the exact time when many residents are suffering from the recession (my wife took a ten percent pay cut, for example).

And I drive a cheap clunker; most people will find that they have many more reasons to vote against Ritter.

I also had to pay $30 to the City and County of Denver for expired tags, but obviously I won't hold that against Ritter. (My only satisfaction in the matter was writing "Legalized Theft" in the "For" line of the check.) The reason my tags expired is that the DMV sent my notification form to my old address, so obviously I never got it. (My wife thinks we sent in change of address forms.) I didn't notice that the month tag was out of date, but the meter maid sure noticed. Because, you know, it's not enough that I pay taxes to pave Denver's roads or feed quarters into Denver's meters.

I should note that the registration fee seems to have covered an extra two months to cover the expiration, but still, that's a hefty "fee" increase.

Tomorrow I have to take my wife's car in for the same reason, and then I suspect I'll have about another hundred reasons to hate Ritter and his Democratic party. [Update: to my pleasant surprise, the tax on our second car actually went down substantially, apparently because the car hit its tenth year.]

Of course, my whole plan of helping to vote Ritter out of office depends upon Republicans running a candidate who's not even worse than Ritter, which was the problem last time around.

Kim Pleasant: Whiner of the Day

I've decided to start issuing periodic "Whiner of the Day" awards. The first goes to Kim Pleasant, who shouted down Governor Bill Ritter yesterday. (I don't get many chances to defend Bill Ritter.)

Jessica Fender and Allison Sherry of the Denver Post recount the story:

About two dozen members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 crashed the Capitol gathering, standing watch in the back and shouting challenges to Ritter regarding his recent veto of House Bill 1170.

The bill would have made it easier for them to receive unemployment benefits if grocery-chain management locked them out of their work sites and potentially improved their standing in ongoing contract negotiations.

Ritter spoke to the protesters from the podium, saying "certainly my heart is with the people who have to put food on the table," but the state should not interfere with active labor disputes.

But his answers didn't satisfy Commerce City resident and Safe way worker Kim Pleasant, who shouted, "That is a lie! That is a lie!"

Ritter's veto of 1170 is one of the few things he's done right. If you're stupid enough to go on strike in the middle of a recession, when nearly one in ten people have lost their jobs and many more have taken pay cuts, the last thing you deserve is a tax subsidy for your stupidity. Just try to go on strike and see how much public sympathy you get.

The simple fact is that the typical job at the grocery store requires no special skills, training, or education. If you want a higher-paying job, then go back to school and work someplace else. But don't shout down the governor for protecting taxpayers (for once). At least wait till Ritter lies before calling him a liar.

So, Kim Pleasant, I'm pleased to name you the recipient of the first "Whiner of the Day" award. Please e-mail me your mailing address and I'll be happy to send you your award.

But don't take this as any indication that I'm pleased with Ritter's performance. While he did the right thing this one time, the general theme of his administration has been, "Screw the Taxpayer." Ritter has helped increase taxes or fees on vehicles, hospital visits, properties, sales, and so on.

As Fender and Sherry write, at the same event Ritter signed bills interfering in mortgages and offering more tax dollars for people not to work. Because, you know, during a recession we want to punish people who are working in order to incentivize others not to work.

I can hardly believe the incompetent and anti-freedom Republican Party left me no choice other than to vote for this sham of a governor.